Netherlands plans to rein in tax avoidance during EU presidency
The Dutch finance minister has said the Netherlands wants to make progress in clamping down on corporate tax avoidance during its EU presidency, after criticism of its sweetheart deal with Starbucks.
The Dutch system has allowed some corporations to pay almost no tax and that was never the intention, Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Monday.
His comments came in reaction to the European commission’s decision last month on Starbucks, in which the Netherlands was ordered to recover between €20m and €30m (£14m and £21m) in back taxes from the US coffee shop chain.
The Dutch government said it was surprised by the commission’s finding that its tax arrangement with Starbucks amounted to illegal state aid.
The government was “motivated to use the half year to make as much progress as possible and not wait until there is an international agreement”, Dijsselbloem told the Foreign Press Association in The Hague.
The Netherlands has dual tax treaties with nearly 100 countries that lower tax rates on profit, royalties and withholding tax. “The outcome has been in some cases that there was almost no taxation. That was never the intention and is not in the Dutch interest,” Dijsselbloem said.
The Netherlands has come under increasing pressure to change its system, which has made it difficult for some developing economies to collect taxes. Dijsselbloem said the the country would take an active role in that debate.
The Netherlands assumes the six-month rotating EU presidency in January.
